Grief Partner
by ImperfectionIsPerfection
Summary: Sonny's pet gerbil Bubbles has just died. Who is helping her get over her grief as best they can? Her friends or maybe a certain frenenemy...?


Ok, so really I should be working on a new chapter for Pacts and Promises (Hannah Montana), but I had to get this out of the way. So... Yeh!

This is dedicated to Bubbles, my deceased gerbil.

Sonny's POV. Italics is Sonny's thoughts.

* * *

_Okay, so the straw is in the cupboard there, the food is in the cupboard underneath. Bedding... Where is bedding? Oh yeah. Bedding is next to the straw. Okay time to see Bubbles._  
"Hey Bubbles, Bubbles.... Come on out please? Mommy wants to make you a nice new house. Fine i guess i'll just have to get my hands dirty." I put her hands in the bottom of the cage, where Bubbles normally does her 'business'. Nothing. By now Magic is out and rubbing her nose against my hand. I pushed the straw around but nothing, until I saw some grey fur. I slowly moved my hand forward, pushing the straw away from the grey fur. If anyone was in the house, they would of heard a scream. My arm shot to my side faster than the speed of light (okay, slight exaggeration but close enough). I backed away, and closed my eyes to steady my breathing. _In, out, in, out_. I turned right around with my eyes still closed, and walked to the ipod on her desk. Music will help. My favourite song was playing, yet all I could think of was that image. Bubbles was no longer. Her head was in the bottom corner of the cage, half her body where I left it. I have yet to find the other half.  
"Magic? Please tell me you didn't do this." I was begging the other gerbil, who had gone upstairs to sleep. The cage Magic_andBubbles _are in has 2 compartments that can be separated. I had done that part out earlier, so only needed to do the bit Bubbles was_is_ in.

"I know i was busy lately, and i forgot to feed you but.... OMG I forgot to feed you. I turned you into a cannibal. Can a gerbil be a cannibal? It doesn't matter. OMG. Breathe Sonny, breathe. Okay what should i do?" The music was forgotten. How can I concentrate on music at this moment. I can't. "Okay what should i do? Well stop talking out loud is a good start, nobody's home." _Okay, so obviously i can't leave Bubbles in there, but i can't bear to look at her either. Hmm. Light bulb moment. I'll call somebody._  
"Hey." I said as happy as she could.  
"Hey..." He replied warily back.  
"So, i was wondering..."  
"That can't be good for your brain!" He interrupted.  
"Chad, enough of your silly humour. This is serious. Could you come to my house please?"  
"What's serious about that?"  
"Just do it. Please." I pleaded through the phone. "And be fast." He hung up. We both knew he would be here, whether it was serious or not.  
5 minutes later, he came into her kitchen.  
"Hey Sonny. What's u...ew." He looked at where I pointed, spotting Bubbles instantly, Magic trapped in the upstairs so she can't chew the remaining parts.  
"Chad...I would never ask if i didn't need it. But do you think you could maybe...." I gulped and took a huge breath of air. "Could you...errr....maybe get....Bubbles....in the..." I was stuttering through that whole sentence, but when I said Bubble's name I broke down. Admitting it in my head was completely different to admitting it out loud.  
"Sssh. Ssh Sonny. I'll help okay. I'll sort it out. Go in your living room, I'll come out when it's done yeah." I nodded, embarrassed and vulnerable. I was half way through the open doorway when he called ,e. I turned, a half smile on my face for his benefit.  
"Hhm?" Why bother with words?  
"Do you want me to finish cleaning it or just you know."  
"Just do the err thing please. I cleaned the top part out earlier." And I rushed out. I didn't hear him sigh and say "Anything for you Sonny."

_Calm down Sonny, calm down. Great, now I'm talking to myself in 3__rd__ person. Maybe singing would help. Okay... _"Alone...In a world I no longer know. How...to survive the pain I feel. Will he help? Will he take it away. If only she was here, next to me..." I couldn't carry on, tears were running down my face. If I continued I would either hiccup my way through the rest of my made up words, or simply choke. _Great! Just great. What now..._

"Chad? Are you done? We need to get to the studio soon or we'll be late!"

"Yeh Sonny. I'm done." He came out of the kitchen, straight to the floor length mirror. After checking himself over for 10 seconds, he turned to me. "Ready?"

"Err. One minute." I dashed into my room, washed my face and grabbed a song book. I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything until I expressed my feelings. A song seemed the right way to do that. "Ready."

"Want a lift?" _Err... Do I? My mum isn't coming back from Wisconsin till 5._

I shrugged, "Kinda."

He nodded. "Okay." He came up to me and hugged me, then lead me out my apartment door. The 5 minute ride to the studios was spend it silence.

As soon as I went into my dressing room, I broke down crying again. I knew it made Chad uncomfortable, so I waited until now. I didn't see if anyone was in here though. Tawni was. _Oh crumbly!What is she doing in here?_ Quickly wiping away any tears, and hiding my face, I asked her my thoughts. "I do own half this room Sonny. Stop being selfish." That comment hurt, and I turned to her. She gasped at me. My eyebrows crunched in confusion, then narrowed in anger.

"I'm selfish. I'm SELFISH? I don't look in a mirror 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I actually care about people when they are upset. I try to help them. The worst thing possible has just happened to me, what did I do? I didn't tell you did I? I didn't try the sympathy card. I tried to hide my tears from Chad to ease his discomfort. How the hell am I selfish Tawni. Tell me, because I fail to see how." I screamed at her. This was my boiling point, and we both knew it.

"Sonny...I'm sorry. What's wrong?" I broke down then, literally. My arms stopped moving, my head fall and my legs crumbled to the floor.

"Bubble's is dead Tawni. She's dead." Tawni came to sit besides me, hugging me comfortingly. She seemed comfortable doing it.

"Tawni, i can't believe she died. I just can't. I was going to clean her cage out but i couldn't find her anywhere. So i searched through the straw, and i found her tail. It was horrible, i couldn't find her head. What am i gonna do? She is the only thing linked to my home back in Wisconsin. Now i have nothing. Tawni? Tawni! Are you even listening? I'm pouring my heart out to you."  
"Sonny." She said softly. "I'm sorry Bubes died, but i can't pretend I know how you feel. I never had time for a pet, so i don't know how you feel. Talk to Zora, she has a snake. Maybe she knows." Tawni shrugged nonchalantly and let me go. I let my shoulders slump. I walked out the door defeated. _Maybe i will...._my thought trailed off when i walked into someone.  
"Watch it. If i get hurt i can't be replaced!" Said an annoyingly familiar voice. It took a while to put a name to the face, but once i did i nearly slapped myself for being so stupid.  
"Chad." I snapped. I was not in the mood for him right now. "I need to find Zora, you don't happen to know where she is do you?"  
"Me? Know where Zora is? Why would i know...." He trailed off, suddenly uncomfortable. It probably had something to do with the fact i had broken down, and was now hugging my knees, my back against a wall crying. He coughed, probably trying to think of a way out of this. Out of instinct, i looked up. He stared at me wide eyed. I had never cried in front of anyone before, i mean NEVER. Not even Lucy has seen me cry. My Mom might have when i was younger. But since i was about 4, i always cried lying on my bed. My Mom knew not to bother me. Usually i didn't have anything to cry about, but i couldn't help it this time. Bubbles was dead! I had cried more time today in front of people than I had in my whole life.

"Sonny..." His voice was unusually quiet and soft. "Come here." I crawled up to him, hugging his legs. He crouched down to my level, staring into my eyes. He wrapped his arms around me, and I cried into his shirt. "I'm sorry." I mumbled.

"It's okay. You may not believe this, but I had a pet dog when I was 7. I called him Pungo. He was so cute. He died last year, he got run over. I was calling him from the opposite side of the street. He ran across, neither of us looked at the traffic. 2 teenagers were drunk driving, and the tyres ran over his head. It took me 3 months to get over it. I was more bitchy to everyone. Portlyn had to warn everyone who wanted to talk to me about my crappy moods. It's okay. It'll get better. You have your mum, and Magic. You have Grady, Nico, Zora and Tawni too. You can have me if you want?"

"Thanks. That helped." I untangled us and we both stood up. "Thanks Chad. I needed that. I think I need to go for a walk." I turned around and went outside. I remembered what Chad said. _You can have me if you want... '_I want you, to help me that is. If I need it. Thanks.' I texted him. I went straight to the park and sat on a swing. I was swinging contently when Marshall called.

"Hey Sonny."

"Hey."

"Are you okay? You don't sound very sunny."

"Yeh, I am now. I'm coming back. What sketch are we doing?"

"Err... The one Tawni made up last week."

"Oh..Ok then. Be there in 5." I hung up. Tawni had gotten better at writing, hopefully this will be one of her great ones. My phone vibrated when I opened the entrance door to the studio. It was Chad. He sent me a reply. 'Any time Sonny. :)' I sent him a smiley back, and got to work. I tried not to thing of Bubbles, instead thinking of Chad's little speech. I got through the whole day pretty okay. When I got home and saw my mum, we both cried and comforted each other. Bubbles meant a lot to us, we only bought Magic to keep her company. But like Chad said, over time it did get better.


End file.
